“It will be the mightiest day in the history of our lives,
the holiest, & the most generous toward us both–for
it makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives to
two purposeless lives a work, & doubles the strength
of each whereby to perform it; it gives to two
questioning natures a reason for living, & something
to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine,
a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth,
a new mystery to life; & Livy it will give a new revelation
to love, a new depth to sorrow, a new impulse to worship.
In that day the scales will fall from our eyes & we shall
look upon a new world. Speed it!”
– Mark Twain,
in a Sept 8, 1869 letter
to fiancé Olivia Langdon,
speaking of their upcoming marriage